Amelia (8 page)

Sam sat forward and rested his arms on the table. “Have you ever heard of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida?”

Penelope frowned and shook her head.

“There is a retirement community there. And in exactly three weeks my secretary will be returning there.”

Her brows came together causing a crease in her forehead. “Your mother is your secretary, right? That’s what Amelia said.”

His eyes met Amelia’s. “Yes. My regular secretary is on maternity leave.”

“Imagine that,” Amelia laughed.

“Something must be in the water,” he added as he sat back in his chair. “She won’t be back for another two months.”

“You must have one helluva maternity plan,” Amelia grinned, making sure he felt the heat from her eyes.

“She asked for a year off. We’re almost through that year.”

Penelope looked between them and then focused back on Sam. “So you need help? Mr. Jackson, I really can do the job.”

Her curls bobbed as she spoke and her voice had gone down in pitch as she grew more serious.

Sam nodded. “Some of my clients can be…well…”

“Assholes? Oh, I can deal with that.”

Sam laughed now. “Penelope, as long as you call me Sam when we’re not with clients, I’d love to give you a chance.”

Penelope stood from her seat and hurried to a very unprepared Sam. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “You don’t know what this means!”

Amelia felt the moment tug at her and she wasn’t used to feeling such joy for someone else.

Penelope backed away. “I should find an apartment. I have just enough saved for something little.”

She bit down on her lip and her brows furrowed.

Amelia stood. “I can afford the room for a few more days. Just stay with me and we will find a place.”

“Together?”

Amelia now had shocked herself. Was that what she’d meant? Would it matter? “We can think about that.”

Penelope’s eyes widened. “I think that would be fun.” She turned toward Sam. “Can I go talk to your mother? Can I have her show me around?”

Sam chuckled. “Yes. That would be fine.”

A squeal erupted from Penelope as she ran out of the board room and down the hall. Amelia shook her head.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged. “I’ll need someone anyway.”

“And you think she will be the right person to fill that void?”

He leaned in. “Don’t tell my mother this,” he whispered. “But anything is better than my mother.”

Amelia covered her mouth with her hand since it had dropped open. “I can’t believe you said that.”

Sam sat back in his seat. “Sometimes the truth hurts.”

He stood and moved to the seat Penelope had vacated. With a gentle stroke he moved his hand down Amelia’s hair. “I was going to ask you to dinner tonight.”

“Seems like I have plans.”

“So it does.” He moved in closer. “The logical part of me says I should lie low for a while. I’ve already crossed so many lines of ethics…”

Amelia moved in closer yet. “I was hoping we’d get a chance to cross a few more of them.”

Sam lifted his hand to her cheek and pulled her in. The moment his mouth moved against hers she knew she was walking a tightrope wire hung from the highest point, but she just didn’t care. Adam had screwed her over and she’d long ago lost feeling for him. But Sam…well he was a wonder.

The moment was short and not fulfilling at all when the sound of a gasp was heard from the doorway.

They both looked up to see a very surprised Penelope.

Chapter Nine

Amelia sat in her dark motel room waiting for Penelope to walk through the door. She was counting on the fact that she had no money and nowhere to go, therefore she would return to the motel.

She’d spent the better part of an hour walking the streets near Sam’s office looking for her. Sam had called a few friends in the area to keep an eye out for her, but she seemed to have vanished.

Amelia knew they’d been stupid to have done what they did. But damnit, she really liked Sam and Christ she really wanted to tumble with him more than once—but she’d just like to get to once.

Just as she thought it the door opened and a very tired Penelope walked through.

“I almost thought I was going to have to call the police.” Amelia stood from the bed and moved toward her. “Where the hell did you go? Where have you been?”

Penelope looked up at her with swollen red eyes. “I’ve been walking.”

“This whole time?”

Penelope shrugged. “Most of it. I headed back to Sam’s office when I got tired. I didn’t know where else to go. I sat in his office for an hour while his mother brought me snacks and he made me drink water.”

“You went back to Sam’s?” Her voice shook and that pissed her off. She’d been trained to have a solid voice. Having it shake wasn’t an option.

Penelope nodded. “I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I’m sad.”

All of this girlie emotion stuff wasn’t resonating with Amelia. “You’re sad that you saw me and Sam kiss?”

“Yes. I saved myself for someone who lied to me. Now I’m pregnant and he’s dead—and a liar. And you have Sam.”

“Sam and I aren’t really anything. It just happened.”

“He’s nice.”

“He is.”

Penelope set her purse down on the small table and toed off her shoes. “Did you know him before? Before Adam died?”

“No. I only met him at the funeral before you walked in.”

“Oh. He must really like you then.”

“I’d like to think he does. Here, sit down on the bed. Put your feet up. You shouldn’t have been walking that long.”

Penelope moved past her to the bed, propped up the pillows and sat down as Amelia sat in a chair by the table.

“What do you think Vivian will say?”

Amelia’s jaw tightened. “It’s really none of her damn business,” she sighed. “But I assume she’ll accuse me of trying to gain something.”

Penelope nodded. “That’s what I thought too.”

Where did they go from here? “I’ll tell her if you want me to.”

“What do you think?”

“There is part of me that says I should say to hell with it, leave town, and forget all of this.”

Penelope’s eyes grew wide with something that looked a lot like fear.

“I’m not going to,” she assured her and Penelope’s face softened a bit. “I like him and I should be able to screw who I want to since my own husband didn’t care who he screwed.”

Penelope rested her hands on her stomach and at the same time the reaction felt like a kick in Amelia’s gut.

“I didn’t mean that bad—Christ, it couldn’t have come out good either.”

“It’s okay. I’m getting used to it. Vivian looks at me like I’m a disease. Her disease.”

“You’re not. You’re as drug into this as we are. Even more so, you don’t have anything to go on but his handsome face. Vivian can at least draw on some good memories for her girls.”

Penelope wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eyes which had filled. “I should have decided not to keep the baby.”

That had Amelia on her feet. “You wouldn’t dare?”

“No. No.” Penelope sat up. “I mean I should have decided a long time ago to make adoption arrangements. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not mother material.”

“Okay then.” Amelia lowered herself back into her chair. “Sorry. Not my body. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset.”

“I understand. I can’t lie—I thought of that too. But it didn’t seem right. This baby,” she put her hands back on her stomach and rested back, “is a gift. There is a reason that Adam left me this and it would be wrong of me not to give him—or her—a good life.”

Amelia bit down on her lip. “I don’t know anything about kids. Seriously—nothing. And as far as I’m concerned Adam was nothing but a conniving bastard. But still, I think there’s hope for his kids—your baby. I won’t leave you. I’ll give you my word that I’m here for you though all of this.”

Penelope’s eyes shed more tears. “Really? You don’t owe met that.”

“No. But I like you and I don’t have anywhere else to call home.”

“What about Sam?”

Amelia scrubbed her hands over her face. “I don’t know what do with that. I like him, but getting involved with him complicates things immensely.”

“Vivian isn’t going to like it.”

Amelia sat back in her chair and pressed her fingers to her eyes. She knew Vivian would have a fit over it and she was more entangled with Vivian at the moment than she was with Sam. Perhaps it was time to let Sam go before it became something more.

~*~

Amelia pulled up in front of Vivian’s house. It wasn’t much, she thought. Adam could have done better for his wife and kids.

The driveway was crumbling. The wooden slats on the porch were broken and the shed door was off its hinges. This was just what she could see from the curb.

Penelope shifted her a glance. “Is this the right place?”

“This is the address.”

“This isn’t what I had in mind,” Penelope turned and looked at the house again.

“Me either.” She took in a long breath. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”

They climbed out of the car and Amelia reached back in for the bottle of wine she’d promised to bring.

There were toys on the porch and a hole in the screen door. Anger actually burned in Amelia’s stomach as she reached for the broken doorbell button. How had he let them live like this while he was out picking up girls at bars. The thought made her sick.

Vivian opened the door, a dish towel in her hands. “Just in time. I just finished the garlic bread.” She smiled at them and that too seemed odd.

Amelia and Penelope stepped through the door and into a whole different world filled with the scent of garlic and oregano.

The outside of the house surely didn’t give any clue to what was on the inside.

The walls were brightly painted and the furniture was minimal, but set up so that the lines of the room looked bigger than they were and clean. There was a basket of toys in the corner of the front room, but no other signs that little girls might have played there.

They followed Vivian back to the kitchen, which was small, but organized in a very efficient way. The only table was in a small nook and there were flowers in a vase in the center and the table had been set for the three of them.

No doubt the kitchen had been updated a bit. Stainless steel appliances with a shine mixed in with dark cabinets and granite countertops.

“Your home is lovely,” Penelope said as she looked around.

“The inside is,” Vivian added as she stirred the sauce at the stove. “I now know he paid off his guilt in home renovations for me to keep quiet.”

Amelia handed her the wine. “I hope you like red.”

“It’ll be perfect with dinner,” Vivian said as she opened a drawer and pulled out a cork screw. “Penelope, can I offer you something? I have some juice, water, milk.”

“Water would be nice.”

Vivian pulled down three wine glasses from the cupboard and filled one with ice and water and the other two with wine.

She handed each of them a glass. “Here’s to the son-of-a-bitch who has us all having dinner together.”

They all tapped their glasses together, but Amelia wasn’t sure if the toast was made for good health or in bitter anger.

“Where are your girls?” Amelia asked.

“Adam’s parents took them for dinner.” She shifted her eyes between the other two women. “I haven’t told them anything yet.”

Amelia sipped her wine. “I suppose they’ll need to know. Especially since I was the beneficiary of the will.”

Vivian took a long drink from her wine. “I’m just trying to decide how to tell them what an S.O.B. their son was. To them, Adam walked on water. To most of this town actually.”

Vivian took another long sip and then set down the glass. “I think that’s been the hardest part of all of this. I was married to Adam Monroe. Soldier. Star quarterback. Loving father,” she said through gritted teeth. “His parents are upstanding citizens in the community and involved in the church.” She picked up the wine and finished it off. “What will they all say when they all learn about the two of you?”

“I’ve never known a town to not have some kind of gossip. I guess we’re it,” Amelia said.

“Wonderful. And my girls?”

“We protect them,” Penelope said softly.

Vivian’s eyes narrowed on the overly optimistic Penelope. “Right. He’ll rot in hell for what those girls will go through because of him.” Vivian finished her glass of wine. “Let’s eat.”

She made a plate for each of them and they carried them to the small table.

“You’re a good cook,” Penelope said with her mouth full of spaghetti. “This is wonderful.”

“This is simple. I didn’t know how tonight was going to go.”

“As long as you didn’t lace this with anything, I’d say we’re doing pretty good.” Amelia took a large bite to prove that Vivian indeed didn’t poison them.

Vivian set her fork down. Her face had gone serious and her eyes moist. “I don’t know what to tell my girls. How can I ever explain who you are?”

Amelia swallowed her bite and then took a long sip of her wine. “I don’t know. I can’t see how you can’t.”

Vivian nodded. “I know. They’re really small. I just can’t say
Daddy had other wives…
” She looked at Penelope. “Other kids.”

Penelope’s eyes grew moist too. “Maybe you don’t have to. We could just be friends of yours. I mean for all they know I’m having a cousin—well for now.” She sucked in a breath. “But I’m having a brother or sister to them.”

It was as if Penelope had only now realized the severity of the situation. Her baby was blood to Vivian’s girls. They were a family—the children.

Penelope covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, no. They’re going to hate me. I’ve done such a bad…”

“Don’t you go there,” Amelia pointed a finger in her direction. “You didn’t do this. He played us. So don’t go taking blame for his shortcomings.”

Vivian clasped her hands together and rested her head against them. “They’re going to find out. In time they will see what he was. But I have to believe in the innocence of youth for now, right? They don’t have to be told anything. They are young enough. In time it will be—well it will just be.”